Harvard is significantly expanding financial aid, providing full coverage for students from families earning less than $100,000 a year.
The move will allow students from about 86% of US households to qualify for financial aid from the Ivy League school starting from the 2025-26 academic year.
“By bringing people of outstanding promise together to learn with and from one another, we truly realize the tremendous potential of the University,” Harvard president Alan Garber said in a statement on Monday.
Under the new policy, students from families earning $100,000 or less will have all billed expenses covered, including tuition, housing, meals, health insurance, and travel. They will also receive a $2,000 startup grant in their first year and a $2,000 launch grant in their junior year.
Families earning up to $200,000 will also receive free tuition and additional aid based on financial circumstances.
In 2004 the university started covering all costs for students from families earning less than $40,000 a year. The threshold rose to $60,000 in 2006 and to $85,000 in 2023.
The new financial aid comes as the Trump administration intensifies scrutiny of elite universities, including Harvard, targeting their diversity initiatives, student aid, and federal funding.
Endowment threat
Federal grants make up 11% of Harvard’s operating revenue and fund two-thirds of its sponsored research.
Trump has proposed taxing Harvard’s $53 billion endowment by up to 35% — a threat that Garber said “keeps me up at night.”
Last week, the school implemented a hiring freeze, reduced graduation admissions, and imposed spending limits in response to “rapidly shifting federal policies.”
To counteract these threats, Harvard has launched a new lobbying strategy, Business Insider previously reported, citing interviews with more than lobbyists, funders, professors, and alumni. It has hired Ballard Partners, a lobbying firm with close ties to Trump’s inner circles, to advocate on its behalf in Washington, D.C.
Harvard is also fostering alliances with conservative policymakers and red-state universities to frame federal funding cuts as a national economic issue.
Some faculty and students argue the university is compromising its values to appease Trump. Meanwhile, prominent donors such as billionaire Ken Griffin are withholding contributions until Harvard moves away from what he called its “DEI agenda.”
